illustration by Robert McCall
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...or how I learned to stop worrying and start a Blog
At first, in the early sixties, the range of the SLBM's (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles) was only about 1,200 miles. US subs had to lurk in waters close to the USSR as shown by the map above. The accuracy of the subs solid fuel 'Polaris' missiles was not good enough for hitting precise military targets. Instead the 1 megaton warhead was targeted at large population centers. A 'Polaris' Submarine carried sixteen missiles. The Soviet Union test launched their first SLBM about 2 months after the USA. The 'Triad' of air, land and sea atomic annihilation was in place. 'Assurance' was complete.
* Pentagon planners would rather we use the word 'deterrence'
Note: the USSR began operating their missile carrying nuclear subs two months after the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41_for_Freedom
List of USN 'Polaris' submarines
... painted by master illustrator Keith Ferris and brought to us by the wonderfully cranky host of 'Up-ship'
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The Soviet Union was always a scary place. Lot's of violence and blood. Lot's of murder in the name of utopia. But the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was it's darkest chapter. Stalin's paranoia and absolute control fashioned an adversary of dark and unknowable threat. When the Soviets got 'the Bomb' in1949 the world was in a nightmare it could not wake up from!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
Look at modern mythology and the blending of myth and fact. The specter of nuclear war has to be the most dark, and ominous theme. Before 1945 the office of the President of the United States was one of great power and influence but not of God-like reach. After the weaponization of the fundamental force of the Universe, the atom, it's control and use becomes Biblical in scope! Unleashing this power is unimaginable. That is; beyond the ability of any person to fully comprehend and understand. And yet, the largest engine of this hellfire is under the command of one person, one human being among all the billions. The President.
This drama, this mythology has one hero, one central character into whose hands is thrust the fate of the world. Since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, a preview which mercifully ended before the final curtain, this role has been magnified into a well worn and well known collective nightmare. Filled with magical devices, secret incantations and numberless servants of the great destruction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-history-of-the-avro-vulcan-bomber
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LINKS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Air-Raid_Siren
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/08/the-chrysler-air-raid-siren-was-so.html
... time to put some popcorn on the 'ol uranium cooker!
A lot of these Cold War education films felt obligated to scare everyone into paying attention with some weird scary music at the start!
Or maybe he just didn't like the name Julius? LINK
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Fun little number from the Travel Desk of the New York Times...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/travel/new-mexico-atomic.html?smid=url-share
okay- so it's not the complete story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it's at least the 1st of what may be 3 reels. Great stuff in somber tone and narration.
Boy, history sure looked great in black and white!
...after the smoke clears and you emerge from your shelter; it will be these five determining who gets food and water and who is left for the Atomic Zombies and the Giant Mutant Cockroaches!
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